1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor integrated circuit, a semiconductor system, and a method of forming a semiconductor integrated circuit; and more particularly, to a semiconductor integrated circuit including a power supply, a semiconductor system including the semiconductor integrated circuit, and a method of forming the semiconductor integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional semiconductor integrated circuits have increasingly become smaller and more highly integrated. Accordingly, semiconductor integrated circuits having a diversity of functions can be integrated into a single semiconductor system. For example, semiconductor systems used in mobile phones include high-power radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits that require a high voltage of, for example, approximately 3 V, and memory and/or logic integrated circuits that require a low voltage of, for example, approximately 1.2 V.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional semiconductor system 100, and FIG. 2 illustrates another conventional semiconductor system 200.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional semiconductor system 100 may include a plurality of integrated circuits S_IC1 through S_IC3 that perform different functions and a power supply PS that applies voltage to the integrated circuits S_IC1 through SIC3. The power supply PS may be a self-generating power supply.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional semiconductor system 200 may include a plurality of integrated circuits S_IC1 through S_IC3 that perform different functions, a power supply B that applies voltage to the integrated circuits S_IC1 through S_IC3, and a charger C that may supply electric charge to the power supply B.
A power supply B, which is not a self-generating power supply, may receive electric charge from an external source through a charger C and may apply voltage to the integrated circuits S_IC1 through S_IC3.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in conventional semiconductor systems 100, 200, the integrated circuits S_IC1, S_IC2, S_IC3 receive voltage from the shared power supplies PS and B. In the conventional systems 100, 200, the following problems may arise.
Conventionally, power supplies PS, B occupy a large amount of space inside semiconductor systems 100, 200 making it difficult to add more integrated circuits to semiconductor systems 100, 200 without increasing the size of the semiconductor systems and/or to scale down the semiconductor systems 100, 200. Furthermore, because integrated circuits S_IC1, S_IC2, S_IC3 may be disposed close to each other, temperatures inside the conventional semiconductor systems 100, 200 may increase.
As described above, integrated circuits S_IC1, S_IC2, S_IC3 in conventional semiconductor systems 100, 200 share power supplies PS, B. Accordingly, an integrated circuit that consumes most of the power, for example, a CPU, may limit the lifespan of the power supplies PS, B.
For example, in notebooks or mobile phones, a CPU or a transmitting/receiving device typically consumes most of the power. Further, in conventional semiconductor systems 100, 200 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the power supplies PS, B provide power for all of the integrated circuits S_IC1, S_IC2, S_IC3, and thus when the power supplies PS, B are exhausted, all of the integrated circuits S_IC1, S_IC2, S_IC3 lose power substantially simultaneously.
Further, because a power supply is shared by integrated circuits that may or may not cause a significant amount of noise and/or integrated circuits that are sensitive and/or insensitive to noise, the overall performance of a semiconductor system may be limited by an integrated circuit having the worst noise characteristics.